Tone Parsons

*groan*

I went back out last night, found a nice pub (a place called The Intermission), and decided that I was goning to have a good time. I actually did 🙂

A couple who happen to be from Seattle sat down next to me. We talked a little, tried to decide what was in these huge clear jars on the bar (I guessed embalming fluid and pepperjack cheese…. apparently it was vodka and pineapple, my bad). Next thing I know, we were drinking car bombs (take half a glass of Guinness and drop a shot glass of irish whiskey and baley’s irish cream into it). While they taste very, VERY good… they make your whole world turn upside down after you consume 4 or so of them.

While my world wasn’t exactly upside down, it was most definitely leaning to one side pretty severely.

This morning I woke up early (because Mr. Stupid Head forgot to turn off the alarm clock in his room as well as the one he programmed into his cell phone), and decided that I better do something besides lay in the hotel room all day (which is truely what I wanted to do when I work up… bad Guinness…. BAD!!). So, I got up, walked down to McDonalds, got some greasy food in my belly, and prepared for my day.

I took the train (which is a subway downtown) out to the Boston Brewing Company and did a tour of the place.

It’s not quite what I expected.

They don’t actually brew the beer you drink there, it’s more of an experimental brewery where they try new things. The beer you buy in stores is brewed in one of many huge breweries located all over the US.

When I got there, I was the only one there for the tour (well… I was early). About 20 minutes later, 4 more people showed up. It was looking like it was going to be a quite tour with just the five of us. That’s when the tour bus rolled into the lot. Out of it came about 50 people from some motorcycle club. They were loud, they were obnoxious, and they were kinda funny.

We did the tour (I only took a few pictures… they’re here)

After the tour was over, they gave us some free beer (this made the tour group even louder and more obnoxious) and then I hit the gift shop. I got myself a t-shirt and nifty bottle opener, and picked up a tap handle for my friend Jess (it’s a real one…. not some cheap piece of crap). I’m hoping he likes it…. if not, I’ll beat him with it.

Then, I spent the day wandering around boston… but that’s another post (which I’ll write in a while).

It’s friday, it’s St. Patrick’s Day, I’m in Boston (the most Irish city in the USA), and I’m bored spitless.

Seriously.

I have no damn idea where to go, what’s going on, etc. I’m a total tourist with no clue.

*sigh*

So… here I sit in my hotel room.

I did go to Jacob Wirth’s for dinner. it’s been around since 1878 and I thought it might be a good place for St. Patrick’s day. Apparently I was either wrong or just too early.

I looked at the menu and couldn’t decide what to have for dinner, so I asked the bartender (a cute little thing with a total ‘jersy accent making her a little less attractive with every syllable) what her favorite thing was. She said it was the Sauerbraten.

Ok.. I have no idea WTF that is, but I’m game… I’ll have that.

According to the menu: Sauerbraten Melt-in-Your-Mouth Sweet N’ Sour Braised Beef Round with Spaetzle, Gingersnap Sauce and Red Cabbage.

According to my eyes: A large pile of… um… vomit… on meat…. on something that could be pasta, could be something else.

According to my taste buds: WTF IS THIS!! WE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT NASTY ASS THING YOU JUST SHOVED IN YOUR MOUTH, YOU MORON!

Yet I ate it anyway. It was sweet, sour, um….. dill? with some meat on some stuff (nope… it wasn’t pasta), covered with pickled red cabage, smothered with some kind of gravy.

Mmmmm… my ass with thank me tomorrow (say “hello” to Mr. Explodo-Butt!)

While I have no damn idea what I’m doing tonight…. tomorrow is a very different story. I’m going on a brewery tour at the Boston Brewing Company. That should be fun (and I’ll take a few pictures).

Well… it’s only 7:19pm on a Friday night, so I believe I should get my ass back out there and find some sort of entertainment for myself.

It’s been a long damn day.

We worked until past 7 tonight (going ’round and ’round in circles… *sigh*). I finally had enough and went out for a smoke. When I returned, they had decided to do what I was praying they would, and actual progress was made. We’ll pick it up tomorrow.

I left the client’s office and walked to a diner on the corner. Apparently, they don’t sell beer, so they suggested I go to a pub a block away. I did… they don’t serve food.

ARRRRGGGHHHHHHH!!

So, I walked back to the hotel and asked if there was anyplace cool to go for dinner AND have a drink (besides the hotel… because the food there kinda sucks). They suggested the Hard Rock Cafe.

Now that sounded good! Well… not really that good. I’ve been to a Hard Rock before, and much like Hooters…. you don’t really go there for the food.

But like the sheep I am, I asked for directions and began my sojourn into the city. After walking about 8 blocks in the wrong direction, I got the psudo-correct directions. 40 minutes later, I was there.

For those who’ve never been to a Hard Rock Cafe, let me describe it: It’s loud, they play music videos, they sell medocre food, and they sell expensive touristy crap.

I spent $90 on 4 t-shirts.

After walking back to the hotel (about a mile and a half) with my bags of t-shirts, I had a couple of beers and decided it hit the sack (that’s right about now).

Enjoy my shirts!

Funny thing last night. After I left the client’s office, I was walking up Kneeland Street to get back to the hotel. I noticed someone walking toward me who looked familiar.

I looked at him, he looked at me, I looked away, realized who it was, and looked at him again (he was still looking at me). It was Ben Affleck. I’m assuming that he was watching me to see exactly what I was going to do (go all “fan boy” on him, walk on by, etc.). I nodded at him, he nodded back. I kept walking.

Things are going well for the most part. We had troubles getting the database server set up yesterday, so we started downloading some rather large patches before we left. When I came in this morning, I applied them and finished the setup. After some tweaks to the startup system (to make Oracle start on boot) we were in business. We’re restoring a backup to it to verify that everything is working correctly, then we’ll focus on the web server and application server.

I did take a few pics this morning with the digital camera while I waited for someone to show up at the clients office (yeah… I was early, but I prefer that to being late). While they’re probobly not very exciting, I’ll present them to you now. Mouse-over for a description, click for a larger view (hit the back button to get back here).

And before you ask… no… I wasn’t visiting Zoom…. they just happened to be next door and I thought that was kinda cool.